Texas Tech baseball: Red Raiders best Bears in game two

Micah Dallas gave the Texas Tech baseball team exactly what it needed on Saturday afternoon.  Coming off a night when Tech had to use seven pitchers in a 12-4 defeat, the sophomore righty went seven big innings allowing just a run while striking out 10 hitters and walking none to help the Red Raiders even the weekend series with a 4-1 victory.

Dallas gave up just six hits over the course of 83 pitches as he kept a hot Baylor offense in check all day.  It was his longest outing of the season and a sign that he might be settling back into the role of a starter after opening the year in the Red Raider bullpen.

In his previous two starts, he had given up six runs to TCU and four to West Virginia and in both games, the Red Raiders were defeated.  But on Saturday, Dallas was at his best and it allowed his team to rally late.

The game was scoreless through five innings but Baylor would break through with a run in the top of the sixth when Dallas uncorked a wild pitch.  However, Tech would knot the game in the bottom of the frame thanks to an RBI single from Easton Murrell who brought home Parker Kelly after he opened the inning with a triple.  Two innings later, the home team would finally gain some breathing room in this series.

In the bottom of the 8th, the game’s biggest hit came off the bat of Red Raider catcher Braxton Fulford.  With the bases loaded, the Monterey High product lined a ball over the third baseman and into the left-field corner to score Max Marusak, Jace Jung, and Cal Conley.

It was the third time this year that Fulford has brought home the game-winning run in the seventh inning or later.  What’s more, it was the 9th time on the season that the Red Raiders have scored the game’s decisive run in the final three innings.

Tim Tadlock would bring Tech’s ace reliever, Ryan Sublett, into the game to close things down.  Picking up the win to move to 5-1 on the year, the righty gave up just one hit in two innings of scoreless work.

Tech will now go for the series win on Sunday with Mason Montgomery on the hill.  All he did the last time we saw him was fan 12 hitters in 6.2 innings of work in Morgantown as Tech won that series with a 10-1 win in the rubber game.  If he can do that again, or do what Dallas did on Saturday, it should be another successful Sunday for Tim Tadlock and his team.